FCC looking to accept 911 texting

This entry was posted on November 25, 2010 by Pure Mobile.

With texting becoming increasingly popular across the globe among the unlocked cell phone users, the FCC is now taking a look at how viable 911 texts would be in situations of emergency. Of course, this could potentially pose a number of problems, but if the system were not abused it could help save lives. There are plenety of situations where someone may want to silently contact 911 in order to receive help without alerting individuals around them that they are doing so.

For instance, if someone were in your house it would make a lot of sense to hide and text 911 rather than to call and risk being heard. Or, if you were running from someone and didn't have time to stop and talk, you could send a text in order to keep moving.

As of right now, it is not clear if they will expand their 911 services to include text messages. Any widespread roll out of the feature would likely require quite a bit of testing to ensure that the system works correctly and is not abused. The FCC is also reportedly looking into receiving MMS with streaming video and pictures so that you can more accurately describe your location or give the operator an idea of what police or medical officials can expect as they arrive on the scene.

It will be interesting to see if they adopt this practice. It is a good idea, but may not be as practical as expected and might actually cause more confusion and problems than the current system does, which requires that you call for help. If successful,t he program could potentially save quite a few lives.